1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an image forming system, and a computer program product.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, there is an image forming apparatus that stores a clear toner, which is a colorless toner not containing a color material, besides toners of four colors CMYK. A toner image formed with such a clear toner is fixed on a recording medium such as paper on which images are formed with the toners of CMYK. As a result, a visual effect or a tactual effect on the surface of the recording medium (referred to as surface effects) is realized. Surface effects to be realized are different depending on what type of toner image is formed with the clear toner and how the toner image is fixed. Some surface effects simply impart a gloss and other surface effects suppress a gloss. It is desired to impart a surface effect to only a part of the surface rather than to the entire surface. There is also a demand for a surface effect for forming a texture or a watermark with the clear toner. In some case, surface protection is demanded. There is also a surface effect that can be realized by performing post-processing with a dedicated post-processor such as a glosser or a low-temperature fixing unit besides fixing control. In recent years, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3473588, a technology for depositing the clear toner only on a desired section in a part of the surface to impart a gloss is developed.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-034040, the gloss is affected by surface roughness of the image formed on the recording medium. In other words, the gloss is affected by irregularity of the surface of the recording medium caused by the toners of CMYK. Therefore, a degree of the gloss does not simply increase according to the density of the clear toner.
To impart a gloss, it is necessary to control the smoothness of the surface of an image. Therefore, it is necessary to create, according to density values of CMYK concerning pixels on which the clear toner is deposited and presence or absence and a type of a post-processing apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus, image data of a clear toner plate (clear toner plane), which is image data for forming a toner image by the clear toner. It is necessary to finely adjust, for example, contents of the image data of the clear toner plate, the number of the image data of the clear toner plate to be created, and control of a printer machine and control of the post-processor. It is difficult for a user to create image data and perform print setting for control taking into account the foregoing.
In the related art, one type of a surface effect such as Premium Gloss can be imparted to the entire surface of one page of a recording medium. However, it is difficult to impart a plurality of kinds of gloss in the one page of the recording medium.
Therefore, there is a need for an information processing apparatus, a printer driver program, and an image forming system that can impart, without causing a user trouble, a desired surface effect by a clear toner to a recording medium on which an image is formed and can apply a plurality of kinds of surface effects in one page in the recording medium.